Tetrisphere is a Nintendo 64 video game developed by H2O Entertainment and published by Nintendo. Though bearing the Tetris label, it is very different from the traditional game. Rather than being seen through a 2D view, the playfield is on a 3D sphere. Usually the primary goal is to reach the center of each sphere by using Tetronimoes to destroy the outer edges of it.

Development

Tetrisphere, in its earliest stages, wasn't even on a Nintendo console and didn't have the Tetris name. It actually started on the Atari Jaguar as a game called Phear. It is unknown exactly why the game was never released on the Jaguar, though there are many speculations. The most common one is that at CES when the game was revealed, Nintendo saw the game, approached H2O and offered a heavy amount of money to them to publish the title and release it on their upcoming Nintendo 64. It could also be that the Jaguar was losing momentum, and that the developers saw that it would create a bigger impact on a Nintendo console, who probably managed to get them the Tetris brand name.

Music

The music was highly acclaimed, and even won best musical score of 1997 by Nintendo Power. The game was composed by Neil D. Voss, who was working on the project early on when was initially planned for the Atari Jaguar (then it was known as Phear). Once the team signed with Nintendo to create Tetrisphere, H2O thought it would be a good idea to have an Audio Director, so Neil became one. Neil ended up doing all of the sound effects and music in the game.